The Block will add paid subscription for cryptocurrency

What’s new? The Block, a cryptocurrency outlet, will be the first media outlet to incorporate tokenized access into its financial model. Users of the site will be able to buy paid subscriptions to media content for cryptocurrency using the Access Protocol system. According to Axios, in order to open access to the content, it is necessary to stake a certain number of tokens on the website. Initially, The Block will apply this model to about 20% of its articles and later will extend it to all content. However, according to the company’s head Mike McCaffrey, this may take 5 to 10 years.

Axios’ material

What else is known about the innovation? In the future, the protocol is planned to be extended to other media companies. Each platform will be able to set its own minimum threshold of tokens needed for a subscription.

For example, annual access to The Block will cost 1000 tokens, which is roughly equivalent to $250. Herewith, the Access Foundation, a crypto company that created and governs the access protocol, set an initial inflation rate of 5% of the minimum threshold of tokens each year. This means that at the end of the subscription period, the number of coins will increase from 1000 to 1050, with the difference divided equally between the media and the user.

The Access Foundation, supported by grants from blockchain platforms Solana Foundation and StarkWare, hopes to launch the tokens in Q4 2022, at which time tokenized paid access to The Block will be launched.

“What makes this paywall different is that it’s meant to be compatible and interoperable with multiple media companies and multiple smaller creators. There’s also no recurring payments,” said Larry Cermak, VP of research at The Block.

Users will stake their assets once and will be able to withdraw tokens at any time. For those who do not want to use this type of subscription, the media platform will leave the classic payment methods.

In June, web publishing platform Mirror announced the launch of “Web 3.0 subscriptions.” This feature allows readers to link their crypto wallet to the service and subscribe to the authors. By linking the address, customers will be able to receive email notifications when new content is published.